For Us Men and Our Salvation Is Not Sexist

[Penny_Plain]

What there are NOT options for is for the texts of the Mass–the Gloria, the gospels/readings, the texts of the Eucharistic prayers, the Our Father, Sanctus, Creed, Agnus Dei etc–to be turned into ‘ad lib’, ‘personalized’, ‘off the cuff’, or worst of all, so completely slanted and biased that they wind up conveying an antithesis of what the texts say. When Jesus taught us the Our Father, He didn’t teach us “Our Father/Mother” or “Our procreator/generator” or “Manitou, great spirit”; He didn’t teach us to 'do unto others as we would have them do unto us".

Not what I said, actually. But nice work and extremely thorough.

 

[surritter]

I hate to tell you, but it seems pretty certain that the new English text of the Mass, to be adopted in a year or so, will indeed omit “men” from the Nicene Creed. I’m sure the Pope and bishops are not adopting a feminist agenda nor denying Sacred Tradition. They are recognising that words do change their meaning. Many people (including me) still accept that “men” means “all human beings” in this context, but it seems that the majority today do not accept this meaning of the word in this context. And no they are not just raving man-hating feminists, but include many good Christians.

It will be interesting to see if anyone complains that saying “for us and our salvation” implies that Jesus came ONLY for Christians/Catholics/the people actually saying the Creed, instead of for all human beings.

Sorry to re-open an old thread, but I just came across this post and can gladly report that the new translation has kept the phrase “for us men and our salvation”! It’s comforting to see that ICEL and the bishops understood the theological nuances of keeping the word “men.” It’s not because they wish to make women feel bad, but that it is necessary to fit with the line in the Creed that mentions Jesus becoming “man.”

And now that we are using the new translation, I don’t really notice people omitting “men.” I think it’s because they are reading from the missalettes (a good thing!) and the words are staring them right in the face.